Moldova seizes £7 million worth of enriched uranium

Four pounds of radioactive enriched uranium worth more than £7 million, has
been seized by Moldovan authorities from a suspected group of traffickers
that included former officials from the interior ministry.

A uranium buttonPhoto: CORBIS

6:16PM BST 24 Aug 2010

Police found 1.8 kilograms (four pounds) of the substance Uranium-238 in a garage in the capital Chisinau where it was under guard and in a special container, according to the interior ministry.

Enriched uranium is a vital ingredient for both civil nuclear power generation and military nuclear weapons.

Chiril Motpan, a spokesman for Moldova’s interior ministry, said the radioactive substance had been brought to Chisinau via contraband and the people linked to the operation wanted to sell it for nine million euros (£7.1 million).

Mr Motpan said the suspects had been arrested, adding that they had previous convictions for possessing radioactive materials in Moldova, Russia and Romania.

He said the group of seven people included two former interior ministry officials who were now retired.

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“Seven members of the criminal group came under suspicion of police in the middle of June when they started to look for ways of selling the radioactive material,” Mr Motpan said.

The identity of the substance was confirmed when one single gram was sent for analysis in the United States where it was confirmed to be Uranium-238, he added.

The source and intended destination of the uranium was not immediately clear. Experts have repeatedly expressed fears over traffickers obtaining nuclear materials from the former Soviet Union with the aim of selling them on to rogue groups in the hope of making a so-called dirty bomb.